kiss me slowly
by thingyoulovemost
Summary: Finn takes Rachel on a weekend trip to NYC to celebrate her 18th birthday! Lots of fluff :  Will be told in parts.


**Author's Note: hey! so I got this idea a few weeks ago but I've been so busy I'm just now publishing it! I hope you like it :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. sadly. haha**

The sun was bright in the sky as they drove through the streets of Lima.

"Are you sure you've remembered everything on the list I made for you, Finn?" said Rachel for the millionth time in the past ten minutes.

"Yes, Rach," Finn sighed, "I'm sure." he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Now can you please stop worrying for five minutes babe? We're gonna have an amazing time, ok?"

"Okay," said Rachel with a soft smile. "I'm really excited!" she exclaimed.

"Me too." Finn grinned.

The pair were on their way to New York City for the weekend to celebrate Rachel's 18th birthday. Finn had wanted to do something really special for her, and he knew a road trip to New York was the perfect present. He was right, she'd _loved_ the idea. He'd already asked his mom and Burt, and Rachel's dads, for permission to go and they'd loved the idea, too.

So he'd bought tickets online for them to see Wicked together. He'd printed them out and wrapped them up in pink wrapping paper, complete with little gold star stickers all over and a gold bow on top. He'd felt kind of ridiculous wrapping _that_, but he knew she'd love it; and that's all that mattered to him. So he'd dropped by her house and handed her the present, watching her face with anticipation.

"Oh Finn, I love this wrapping paper!" she'd exclaimed with her signature mega-watt smile. _Score_. When she saw the tickets, her jaw dropped for a moment. She'd looked up at Finn with happy tears shining in her eyes, and then she tackle-hugged him, knocking him onto her bed. She gave him a big wet kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Finn." she whispered lovingly into his ear. Then she gave him a real kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss in response. Before things could get more intense, she pulled back slightly and leaned her forehead against his, smiling widely. "I love you so much," she said warmly.

"I love you too, Rach," Finn replied, his mouth turning up at the corner into her favorite crooked smile.

* * *

><p>So there they were, on their way to the Big Apple, with Rachel's pink suitcases (she had 3, Finn had no idea why she needed so many) and Finn's black bag loaded in the bed of his truck. Rachel turned on the radio, and Faithfully began to play. She and Finn looked at each other with wide smiles, and began to sing along. They belted out the familiar song, singing "I'm still yours, faithfully." As the song faded, Rachel turned to Finn and said, "Finn, I really mean that. All of it. I love you so much; I always will. Okay?"<p>

"Me too, Rach." Finn smiled.

They'd just gotten on to the highway when Finn glanced over at Rachel, who was staring out her window looking deep in thought. "What's on your mind?" he asked her softly.

She looked over at him with sadness in her eyes. "Oh, nothing," she said with a slight shake of her head. "I'm just tired."

"Rach, what's wrong?" Finn asked with concern.

She sighed. "I was just thinking about how this year's going by so fast. Our senior year is already halfway over, Finn. I'm just going to miss everyone in glee." she said as tears pricked in her eyes.

"Hey, hey," he said. "Just because high school's ending doesn't mean we'll never see them again. I mean, I kind of consider us a family now, you know?"

She nodded softly, a small smile gracing her face.

"See, there's that beautiful smile." Finn grinned at her.

She laughed warmly. "I love you, Finn Hudson. Did you know that?" she said, leaning over in her seat to kiss his cheek.

"I love you too, beautiful." he said, smiling.

* * *

><p>They'd been driving for about 6 and a half hours when Finn decided they should find somewhere to stop for the night. They were in a quaint little town called Bellefonte, in the middle of Pennsylvania. Finn kept driving until he saw a sign for a bed and breakfast about five miles up ahead, and he figured that would be as good a place as any. He eased his truck up the rustic brick driveway and pulled to a stop. He glanced over at Rachel, who was fast asleep with her head leaned against the window. There was drool on the corner of her mouth, which was slightly parted, and she was snoring lightly. He smiled to himself, wondering how he'd gotten so lucky. He gently shook her shoulder, and she lifted her head groggily.<p>

"Hmm? Barbra, is that you?" she said in a sleepy voice.

Finn chuckled. "Nope, just me," he said. "We're in Bellefonte, like 4 hours away from the city. I stopped at this bed and breakfast for the night, so I'm gonna go in and see if they've got a room, okay?" Finn asked her.

"Okay," she sighed dreamily. "I'll just wait for you here." she said as she leaned her head back down and closed her eyes.

Before he walked in, he stopped to look at the Reynolds Mansion Bed and Breakfast. It was an old Victorian-style house, complete with strands of ivy curling up the walls and beautiful trees surrounding the building and bushes in front of the porch. It really was pretty adorable, and he knew Rachel would love it. Well, once she became coherent. She can be a pretty deep sleeper when she wants to be.

He strode through the front door and into the lobby, where he spotted an older woman sitting behind an oak desk.

"Hi, excuse me but I was wondering if you have a room available for tonight?" he asked the woman.

"We sure do," she said with a wide smile.

"Awesome," he grinned.

"Just for tonight, you said?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he said. "We're just passing through; we're on our way to New York City."

"How fun! Have a good time."

"Thanks!" he told her.

"Okay, well that'll be 50 dollars. You're in the Nittany Blue Room, just up the stairs, second door on the right."

"Thank you," he replied, pausing briefly to glance at her name tag as he handed her the money, "Martha."

"You're very welcome, dear! Have a nice stay here at the Reynolds Mansion Bed and Breakfast. Check out's at 11:00." said Martha.

Finn gave her his signature lopsided grin as he said, "Thanks, we will."

He went back to the truck to wake up Rachel, and she helped him carry their bags up to the threshold. Rachel's jaw had dropped the moment she'd seen the castle-like building, gasping in awe as she said "Oh Finn, this is so beautiful!"

"Yeah," he said as he looked into her big brown eyes. "You are."

She blushed furiously and nudged him in the side with her elbow, "Finn," she chastised jokingly.

"What? I'm just calling it like I see it." he said, winking at her as she laughed, her cheeks still rosy.

They strode up the gorgeous mahogany stairs and walked over to their room. Finn set down the bags he was carrying as he took out the key Martha had given him and unlocked the door. He pushed it open and they simultaneously said, "Wow..."

The room was themed with a beautiful navy blue and white color scheme, and there was a fireplace in the corner with a small TV next to it. To the right was a queen sized bed adorned with Victorian-style decorations and bed frame, with a window seat along the center wall. The bathroom, with a very nice shower, was on the left. Finally, the best part of the room was located on the right side of the bed- a navy blue and white tiled jacuzzi, complete with red rose petals strewn across it. A golden chandelier hovered above the jacuzzi, giving the room a soft, warm glow.

"This is..." Rachel struggled to think of a way to describe it.

"Super awesome." Finn finished her sentence for her. He paused for a beat. "You wanna test out the jacuzzi?" he said as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Finn," she blushed again, biting back a grin.

He laughed as he set their bags on the bed.

"We should leave around 7:00," said Rachel. "That way we'll get there around 11:00 and we'll have more time to spend sightseeing."

"Sounds good to me." Finn said, although honestly he hates getting up any earlier than noon.

Rachel started digging through her suitcases until she found her black bikini with gold sequins and Finn's bright blue trunks. She tossed his trunks to him and quickly changed into her suit while Finn looked on appreciatively while he changed as well, causing her cheeks to redden.

She threw her hair up in a messy bun and walked over to the jacuzzi. As she turned on the faucet, she looked around and saw that there were assorted scented bath salts and bubble bath bottles on the counter. She grabbed some vanilla scented bath salt and put some into the bubbling water. Finn walked over to the jacuzzi and stepped in, sinking his body in the warm water. "Mmm," he sighed contentedly. "This is great. Rach, get in!" he told her.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." she said as she stepped in as well, settling her tiny body in between his legs and laying her head back on his broad chest.

"This is nice." she said. "Thank you so much for this, Finn. I'm loving this trip already." she told him as she lifted up her head to give him a chaste kiss.

"You're welcome," he told her. "Anything for my girl." he said with a grin.

After a moment of silence, Rachel started humming something lightly to herself.

"What song is that?" Finn asked her.

"Hmm? Oh, 'The Way I Am' by Ingrid Michaelson." She answered him.

"Will you sing it for me?"

"Of course," she said, smiling warmly.

"_If you were falling, then I would catch you," _she crooned, interlacing their fingers as she sang. _"You need a light, I'd find a match." _She rubbed her thumb back and forth across the bridge of his hand._ "'Cause I love the way you say good morning, and you take me the way I am." _She smiled widely as she sang to him. The words were true. Rachel knew she could be high maintenance sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), but Finn truly loves her just the way she is. She swears she can feel it in her bones. _"If you are chilly, here, take my sweater." _Finn chuckled softly. "_Your head is aching, I'll make it better." _She paused to press her lips to his jawbone. _"'Cause I love the way you call me baby, __and you take me the way I am." _Finn wrapped his arms around her. _"I'd buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair," _she sang as she played with the strands behind his ear. _"Sew on patches to all you tear."_

'"_Cause I love you more than I could ever promise," _Rachel sang as she gazed lovingly into his eyes._ "And you take me the way I am, you take me the way I am," _She began to sing more softly as her song came to a close._ "You take me the way I am." _Rachel sang the last line of the song as she caressed his jaw lightly with her hand, and he shuddered under her soft touch.

Finn leaned down to meet her lips halfway, and she felt that familiar warm, stirring feeling in her stomach, the one she feels every time he kisses her. It's more than butterflies; it feels like someone's set her whole body on fire. It's a good kind of fire, though. It's love. True love. And she wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world.

* * *

><p>After they'd each taken their respective showers and put on something to sleep in, Rachel suggested that they watch a movie together on Finn's laptop. She grabbed <em>The Notebook<em> out of one of her many suitcases (she always had a copy available, it's her favorite movie next to _Funny Girl_) and popped it in. They snuggled up under the covers, with Finn's arm around Rachel and her tucked into his side with her head lying on his chest.

Finn would _never _admit it out loud, but he secretly loves _The Notebook_. Rachel's probably forced him to watch it about a hundred times, but he doesn't care. He pretends to hate it, but actually he thinks it's pretty romantic. And it beats watching _Titanic _with her. Besides being extremely depressing, the ending kind of makes him mad. There was totally enough room on that door for both of them. Rose could've moved over, but no, she just let Jack freeze to death. Not cool.

Rachel fell asleep on Finn before the movie was over, so he carefully got up and set the laptop on the dresser nearby. He turned back to look at Rachel's sleeping form- she was sprawled across the bed with her dark waves of hair splayed across the pillow, and she was drooling again, causing Finn to smile. He turned off the bedside lamp and crawled in next to her, bringing her to his side again as he heard her sigh dreamily in her sleep, and then he let sleep overcome him as well as he drifted off with thoughts of Rachel in his dreams.


End file.
